Muslims must prove extraordinary patriotism before they can claim American identity

Evidence

One of the speakers at the 2016 Democratic National Convention was Khizr Khan, father to an American Muslim soldier who died in a suicide attack in Iraq. Khan spoke of his son’s limitless patriotism, exemplified in the sacrifice of his life for his country. Appealing to an American public that harbors extreme Islamophobic sentiments that have been fueled by political rhetoric like Donald Trump’s call to ban all Muslims from coming to the United States, Khan wanted to show that Muslims are Americans and Americans are Muslims. The speech highlighted something important. For Muslims to be seen as American, they have to do extraordinary things to demonstrate their patriotism and loyalty to the United States. Former president Bill Clinton’s speech at the convention also drew attention to this sentiment that Muslims have to prove they are loyal and patriotic citizens. He said, “If you’re a Muslim and you love America and freedom and you hate terror, stay here and help us win and make a future together, we want you” (Beinart 2016). Muslim Americans must pass a litmus test on their patriotism before they are able to claim their American identity. — , Selod, Saher - Forever Suspect_…, 614

Categorization

• SEED: The ‘patriotism litmus test’ is a concrete, nameable phenomenon for an essay on how suspect groups must over-perform citizenship — parallels the loyalty oaths demanded of other racialized groups.
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — , Selod, Saher - Forever Suspect_…, 614
• XREF: connects to: It required losing a son in a Muslim land to prove Muslim Americanness — Khaled A. Beydoun, American Islamophobia_ Understanding…, 350; Performing good-Muslim status requires denouncing terrorism and flag-waving — Khaled A. Beydoun, American Islamophobia_ Understanding…, 726; Muslim Americans hold nominal but reduced substantive citizenship — Khaled A. Beydoun, The New Crusades_ Islamophobia and the…, 1344 (+8 more)

Related

• Muslim Americans must prove patriotic loyalty before being accepted as American (similarity 0.93)
• Muslim Americans face a patriotism litmus test to claim American identity (similarity 0.90)
• American tolerance of Muslims conditioned on their political quiescence and departure. (similarity 0.85)
• It required losing a son in a Muslim land to prove Muslim Americanness (similarity 0.82)
• Muslim Americans hold nominal but reduced substantive citizenship (similarity 0.82)
• Muslim citizenship in America is negated by religious identity after crises (similarity 0.81)
• Performing good-Muslim status requires denouncing terrorism and flag-waving (similarity 0.81)
• Even Muslim civil rights organizations are surveilled and discredited by the state (similarity 0.81)
• Islam in America operates as a political identity of otherness beyond religion (similarity 0.81)
• Citizenship itself is racialized, protecting some citizens while criminalizing Muslim Americans. (similarity 0.80)
• Surveilled Muslim immigrants still assert loyalty to American citizenship (similarity 0.80)
• Muslim identity overrides American citizenship status at the border. (similarity 0.80)
• Muslim public condemnations of terrorism failed to clear the community of suspicion. (similarity 0.80)
• No US religious community endures such simultaneous embrace and surveillance (similarity 0.80)
• Muslim Americans appeared only as hypothetical threat in 1789, not as real persons (similarity 0.79)

Broader Connections

• Muslim inclusion in American civic life comes at the price of disciplined loyalty #corroborates (0.80)
• Islamophobia is refusing Muslims a role in building national identity #corroborates (0.75)
• Surveillance targets Muslim Americans based on religious identity regardless of citizenship #corroborates (0.70) — , Selod, Saher - Forever Suspect_…, 104
• Religious identity replaced ethnicity as the marker making Muslim Americans seen as anti-American #expands (0.60)
• Muslims are presumed guilty until proven innocent in US enforcement #corroborates (0.60) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 448
• The surveillance gaze denies Muslim Americans the psychological privileges of citizenship #expands (0.55)
• Fear of state detention and deportation corrodes Muslim Americans’ sense of citizenship #expands (0.50)